Heaven and Hell

I've always found summer Carping to be somewhat of a chore. For many years I fished for Carp during the summer but then somewhen in my angling career I realised that I was no longer enjoying it. I suffer from severe pollen allergies and I don't do well in heat. Then you add in the insects, hot sticky nights and the fact that Carp tend to feed more in the hours of darkness during this season and it all adds up to something that is no longer enjoyable., for me at least. So I moved away from summer Carping and have spent most of my time on the coast fishing for Bass and other saltwater species in the intervening years, only reverting to Carp fishing during the Autumn, winter and early spring.

My Son and I have for the past 3 years joined a club on the mainland that offers a wide variety of waters to fish and travelled across to fish one or two of these waters. The trips have admittedly been infrequent, more because of my fickle relationship with Carp angling in general than anything else.
Having a young Son who is a Carp fishing monster is a cross I have to bear, being constantly nagged and badgered about going Carp fishing does nothing for my tolerance of this branch of the sport. Let me explain.

When I started Carp fishing some 30 odd years ago things were very different and the whole scene was a completely different ball game to how it is now. Waters were much quieter, even the now almost continually rammed Linear Complex was much, much quieter and it was always possible to find your own water even if you couldn't get in a going swim. It was you against the fish and not you against the other anglers as well as the fish like it is now.
As Carp fishing grew and became more commercial and popularised by the leading tackle companies, and the internet changed things, and I found that I was no longer enjoying Carp fishing, My friends and I fished around seeking quiteter destinations on which to pursue our passion and for a while we ticked over and fished some now quite famous venues before they became over popularised day ticket waters or expensive Syndicates. But the monster kept growing and eventually enough was enough. Our attention wandered and we ended up diversifying into other species and other types of fishing, only ever returning to Carp fishing when we could be sure that the banks would be devoid of the other combatants. Winter became our time to fish for Carp, in fact we have become adept at catching fish during the colder months and raised a few eyebrows wherever we have gone with our success when others that remained to brave the elements have struggled. My eager Son has grown up with the modern style of combat Carping and has never known the pioneering of waters that my friends and I knew, where we were often the only one's on a lake with some big fish in it, that were under fished for, we enjoyed peace and quiet, solitude and could very much do our own thing, and those are the things I crave from my Angling, much more so these days too. 

So after much whingeing and tantrums I have finally given in and resigned myself to having to endure the things I have an intolerance for in order to keep his lordship happy. Fortunately I have found that I much more tolerant to the heat of Summer these days, up to a point of course, and I now follow a strict regimen regarding my allergies and managing them. This still leaves my inability to slot in on a busy water and compete against other Anglers all targeting incredibly over pressured fish. So we have made an agreement that should our ( his ), chosen water be too busy we will seek to fish elsewhere for the duration of our trip. It may not be ideal from the point of view of catching the fish we really want to but at least we will be fishing, hopefully somewhere less busy but still with some decent fish to go for.

So it transpired on our most recent trip this was the case, the water we really wanted to fish was quite literally rammed, and we witnessed anglers moving into swims as soon as another angler vacated them. Definitely not my cup of tea and even my Son agreed it was far from ideal. The Complex we have been fishing does have a couple of other waters to choose from, Unfortunately our second choice venue was closed for a match that weekend and so we looked at another lake on the complex. Now this particular lake gets very little attention, however the reasons why are quite obvious. Thick weed carpets the bottom and the water itself is notorious for it's snaggy nature and low stock. Given our situation we decided to investigate the lake nevertheless. Unfortunately by late afternoon we were exasperated, after many hours of walking, looking, plumbing about and sweating in the heat and being bitten and sun burnt there was little in the way of clear spots to fish and I was suffering from being severely bitten by insects resulting in huge welts appearing on my neck and legs. ( I'd been daft enough to wear shorts in an effort to stay cool and forgot to apply the repellent which was in my bag! ). We were feeling very low and on the point of abandoning the whole trip and heading back home when my Son suggested we look at another water not far away. We had nothing to lose at this stage and I agreed it was worth a look, and despite being almost completely exhausted we loaded our gear back onto the barrows, trudged back to the van, packed the van and then headed off. Five minutes later we arrived at our new destination. First impressions were that it was not at all busy, in fact there was plenty of room...

Summoning the last of my energy we did a circuit of the lake. Thankfully this isn't a large water and as we walked I began to feel that maybe the trip could be salvaged after all. First impressions were of a small, deepish gravel pit with clear water and some marginal weedbeds. Lots of tall trees consisting of the usual willows and poplars and oaks that you find around these pits. A couple of Islands break the water up and offer a far margin to fish to in the swims that face them. I believe there to be some weed here and there in the middle of the lake but nothing that we couldn't cope with.

We mooched some more until we came upon a small bay at the far end whereupon Son decided to shin up a tree to get a better view of the water in front of us. It wasn't many seconds before he spotted some fish in the bay, however to cut a long and somewhat confrontational story short, ( more combat Carping! ), another newly arrived Angler had also spotted the fish. So in order to keep the peace we had to resign ourselves to another area of the lake for the night, but the Angler would be leaving the next day and so hopefully the fish might still be in the area and we might, just might be able to get on some fish.

We had actually been very lucky to stumble upon the fish we found because the lake supports a very small head of Carp, however they do grow to very good proportions. And that's really all I know, we have little to go on in that respect, rumours and some minimal information we can find on the Internet but not much in the way of specifics. But what little we do know tells us that it's worth spending some time on here. I guess you could say that the mystery is adding to the appeal. 

The night passed uneventfully in the area we had dropped into which was about the halfway mark on the lake so the next day about 10 o'clock, we moved into the top bay after the Angler that was in there had vacated. It soon became obvious that the fish had maintained their residence in the bay and from his tree branch view point Son was able to confirm this. There also seemed to be a proliferation of bubbling in the bay, most of which we surmised to be Tench or Bream, however the presence of the Carp made us hopeful that some of the bubbles were originating from them and that they might be in the mood to feed on our baits.

Choosing swims on opposing sides of the bay, and with Son positioned more towards the entrance and me opting to fish a swim right in the corner we felt that strategically this was the best ploy as the fish moved in and out. We could also respect each others water and do our own thing as long as we did it quietly there would be no affecting each others chances.

I opted to fish small solid PVA bags with a mixture of Pellet, crumb and Boilie, when cast I am able to control the landing of the bags by feathering the line so as they enter the water with minimal disturbance. Noise wise it's more like a fish breaking the surface rather than the thud of a lead. Son donned the waders and positioned his rigs by hand along his margin.

We settled into our new pitches and for the first time this trip we actually began to relax and enjoy the session. The next few hours and through the night passed fairly quietly, only a liner having me up and running for the rods in the early hours. Sunday dawned and we were still alone in the bay and out in the open water in front of us was a mass of bubbling. Having left my rods static for the night I decided on a tactical change and to cast to some of the bubbling with my small solid bags. This can be a great tactic on the right day and it did indeed get me some buzzer action. The first occurrence I am certain was a Carp, a very wise and crafty Carp that managed to shed the hook! The alarm sounded and the line and Bobbin pulled up tight to the rod, then dropped back a bit, I was up and by the rod in a flash with my hand hovering hesitantly ready to strike at the next movement, which didn't come. The lead had obviously moved but that was as far as I could figure things out.
Looking at the rod tip for further indications I observed it nodding slightly but the bobbin didn't tighten. I picked the rod up and tightened up a bit, feeling for movement and all of a sudden the line dropped slack, I wound down and kept winding expecting to connect with a fish any second, but the line remained slack and the lead and rig skipped in to the bank. Immediately I looked at the lead which had been discharged from the swivel and was running free up near the top of the short leader. I think it's obvious to any experienced Angler that has fished waters where the Carp are very wise to shedding rigs exactly what had happened. I have read in what little I have found, that the Carp in this water are very adept at dealing with rigs and clearly one had picked up the rig, swum towards me and managed to shake the lead hard enough to discharge it, the nodding on the rod was the line running through the lead as it swum towards me, the last step was to blow the ( Barbless ), hook out! Curses! my hesitancy and slight confusion over what was going on had cost me my first chance from this water. Unfortunately there is a Barbless hook rule on this and the other waters on the ticket which means I have to go back to the drawing board as far as how I fish this and the other waters in future. I prefer to fish with Fluorocarbon mainline as I think I have mentioned before. Using Fluorocarbon means I can relax the line a little and get some of it down on the bottom behind the rig without having to use backleads. It also means less stretch and normally better bite indication. Slack without too much slack if you see what I mean. The weight of the Fluorocarbon is enough to pull a metre or so down behind the rig whilst still maintaining a fairly tight line to the rod because of the water pressure and weight/sinking properties of the Fluoro. No it doesn't allow them to get into snags and if fishing near snags I keep the line much tighter, plus I don't use Baitrunners even if the reels have the mechanism, I always use tight clutches however I'm fishing. You will never hear my Alarms give a 'one toner'...This method has served me well for many years and I believe it has helped me to catch more fish. I may have to rethink my strategy on this in future on these waters, heavier leads tighter lines., maybe something completely different...Later on I had a large Tench that had taken the rig well back and not discharged the lead, Tench generally don't tend to discharge the lead, completely different to the earlier scenario convincing me even more that the culprit was indeed old Cypry! I also lost a Tench when the hook pulled in some weed. And that was it for the session. So a session of very mixed fortunes, did we have to go through Hell to find a possible Heaven? Were we given a tantalising taste of something good? Did we have a very tasty Carrot dangled in front of our noses? I am a firm believer that fate can sometimes play a large part in our lives, especially when it comes to fishing and maybe this time it was telling us that this little water was where we needed to be...
What I do know is that we will be having another look at this lovely little venue on our next trip, all being well, and I say lovely because it is a nice looking water, it's a nice place to bivvy up and while away a few days in pursuit of Carp. That's not something I can honestly say about many waters I've been to in the last few years. Time will tell and I will update you on our progress in the next blog.

Thanks for reading

Chris

Yateley South Lake

It's a good many years since I was last at Yateley South lake and I wasn't really expecting to be visiting it again just yet but I suppose I should have expected it given that the Match lake is so popular. My Son and I arrived to find it absolutely rammed the other day, there were a few swims available but they just didn't seem to appeal to either of us. Neither myself or my Son are up for just slotting in for the sake of it and prefer to try and use at least some watercraft to locate fish, but when most of the water is already covered that just isn't possible! Having also looked around Nursery and Copse as well, with the low water levels and zero signs of any fish they just had a 'dead' look which failed to inspire either of us to want to fish them. Thank goodness there are plenty of other waters available on the ticket and we decided to pop over the road and have a look at the South lake which had looked pretty quiet as we drove past a couple of hours earlier.

As it turned out it was indeed pretty quiet with just a half dozen or so Anglers present and plenty of swims and options available. What's more even though it was 10.am by this time it seemed we had arrived during a feeding period with evidence of fizzing and as we walked into the back bay area a fish jumped out causing us to pause and inspect the area more closely. It became obvious that a number of fish were present cruising just below the surface. Being extremely tired from an uber early start and then getting caught in traffic on the M3 due to an accident and then spending a couple of hours walking the other side of the road at Match, we decided that was a good enough place to start.

Fortunately there are areas all around South where you can park your car and none are very far from the nearest swims so in no time we had barrowed the gear the few yards from the van to the swims. Cutting a long story short I think we actually arrived too late and by the time we had disturbed the area trying to find spots to present baits most of the fish had done the off. Both of us went to sleep for a few hours in the afternoon by which time the sun was high in the sky and temperatures had soared. I woke up late afternoon in a sweat from the heat as the sun was pitching directly into our swims and my Son found himself in a similar position.

We opted to remain in the bay for the night in the hope that the fish would return at the same time the next morning but despite having several liners during the night I awoke the next morning fishless. Son had lost something during the night that he felt was probably a Bream.

We gave it the morning but it was obvious we weren't going to find success in the back bay so Son went off to do the leg work for his old man and see if he could find us another chance. Before long he was back having found an area where some fish were fizzing and rolling so we both trotted off to have a look at the area. In contrast to the cramped back bay the new area offered plenty of options for both of us with a large expanse of open water in front plus features to cast to.

20 minutes later we had moved the gear to the new swims and set about exploring the area with light leads trying to keep disturbance to a minimum. Again to summarise, the afternoon passed into the evening and night and I awoke the next morning feeling dissatisfied with my efforts. Son was in a similar frame of mind and we sat and had a discussion about tactics.
I had been fishing both rods on an area of firm silt over which I had spombed a couple of kilos of mixed feed. Fish had definitely been bubbling on this area but I felt it was more likely to be Bream so I decided to wind in one of the rods and reposition it to an over hanging willow opposite me on the end of an Island. The cast went spot on, in fact it was one of those hero casts that you know just has to get you a fish. I had to punch it low and hard to get it in position under the overhanging branches to the spot I thought would produce. As it went in the line just caught the very tips of the willow leaves and a little flick with the rod tip saw it ping off, just the job I thought. As I said I just felt it deserved a fish and it came as little surprise a short while later when the alarm signalled a powerful take. I kept the rod low and gave it plenty of side strain as the fish tried to get further under the willow branches, not that there was any real danger as there were no branches actually under the water for it to snag on, other wise I wouldn't have cast it where I did. The fish ploughed up and down and managed to find a couple of small weedbeds, but calm steady pressure and a bit of coaxing from me had it moving again and eventually the boy put the net under a nice sized fish.
On the Scales it weighed exactly 26lb, a short deep bodied Simmo strain fish. Not the prettiest of fish but beggars can't be choosers and still a nice reward for hard work.
Needless to say the rod was recast back to the same spot and once again it landed right on target and a short time later it roared off again with a slightly lesser specimen of 17lb 6oz.
I think the boy was getting a little frustrated by this time seeing the old man show him how it's done! I suggested he place one of his rods to an Island margin to his right as the sun was beginning to show signs of breaking through the clouds and lighting up the margins of the Island. Kudos to him he managed to get an absolutely spot on cast in under some overhanging branches on the Island and again it was one of those casts that deserved a reward. Sure enough with just two hours of our trip left he received a take from the spot. The end result after a plodding fight was a lovely grey coloured Mirror of 20lb 4oz.
Despite the initial disappointment of not being able to get on the Match lake we had managed to bank three fish between us, a good enough result given the circumstances and we both returned home buoyed by our success. To be honest I'm kind of glad that we were forced onto the South lake as I think we both needed to catch a fish, The Match lake is a ball breaker for many people who aren't local and can't pre bait spots and visit it often enough to get in tune with the lake. I'm under no illusion that we have set ourselves a difficult task in catching any fish from Match and so an occasional trip over the road to get a bend in the rod will be needed from time to time. South lake isn't a hard lake but it still requires a bit of thought and I believe very precise bait placement is the key. There are still some very good fish in the South lake and some very nice looking one's so I won't mind too much in future if we have no choice but to spend time on this lovely little water.

A solid lump weighing 26lb not especially pretty but very welcome!

The boy did better in the nice looking fish stakes with this wonderfully grey coloured 20lb 4oz Mirror.

Update, Yateley and VMC Carp hooks.

We're now in early July and I haven't Carp fished or indeed done any Freshwater fishing since April when we had our final sessions on our little water. Once the weather began to warm and Sea temperatures rose to an ideal level the Carp gear was put away and we moved on to some Saltwater fishing. This is a normal pattern for myself and my fishing friends which might sound strange to many Carp anglers, especially those that hang up their gear for the winter. There is no doubt that Carp are easier to catch during the summer months but I have always found it less of a challenge. That probably sounds like an arrogant statement, and it is in a way, but I have always said I have a short attention span when it comes to fishing and once I have achieved a target I get bored and feel the need to move on. Now living where I do on an Island, the challenges are limited as far as freshwater and Carp fishing goes and I hate going over old ground again and again. It isn't an easy thing for me to travel to new destinations both logistically and financially so I have to look elsewhere for those challenges and the Saltwater that I am surrounded by holds plenty of those hence why I hang up the Carp rods for the summer. Having said all that, all this fishing takes a lot of planning and usually I am thinking months ahead, so through the late winter  and early spring I am preparing for the summer and usually about this time of year I start to think about my Autumn and winter fishing whilst still pursuing my summer targets. I won't write about my current summer exploits here as I want to keep this blog about the Coarse side
of things but if you are interested you can catch up with them here : https://saltwaterflyfishingdiary.blogspot.com/

So what are my plans for later in the year?

Last Autumn saw me visit the famous Yateley complex with a particular interest in the Match lake, an extremely challenging water for many reasons and made all the harder by not being able to spend much time there. I only managed a couple of trips for various reasons which was less than I was planning on, but the two trips that I did do were very interesting and I did learn a few things. I have outlined them in the previous posts and I hope to return for some more sessions this Autumn and winter. I will however be making my first trip earlier than last year whilst it is still relatively warm to give myself at least a fairly decent chance of learning more about the lakes residents and their movements and feeding habits. I will be taking what I learned on the two previous trips and implementing that knowledge in my baiting situations and presentation. I don't like to move too far out of my comfort zone when it comes to how I fish wherever I go, and I have a few tried and tested presentations that I am confident in but will be making small adjustments for this particular water...


Travelling for my fishing is nothing new to me and is something I have always done and I have managed to be fairly successful on some quite challenging waters up and down the country, so I am not daunted by the prospect of this particular water. Carp are Carp and they have to feed at some point, if you're there when they do then you stand a chance of catching them, if you're not there then you won't. That's the way I look at it anyway, if you've got a bait in the water you stand as much chance as anyone else, more so if you look, listen, and learn. Cagey they may be and as I discovered on my first trip, they are clever enough to get away with it on a regular basis but eventually they will make a mistake.
The biggest issue for me is the amount of kit needed for these long sessions, 48 - 72 hours is quite a long time and logistically a total pain. I am a far better short session angler and always have been. I like to be mobile, and focused but with 3 tons of gear that is impossible! So this is something I am going to be looking at. I moved a couple of times on the last Yateley trip and I was completely exhausted by the time I'd finished! I aim to be more mobile, even if it means leaving food and drink etc. in the car and not carrying it with me, at least I can fish off the barrow then and be much more mobile if I need to be.

I'm still a few weeks away from any of that at the moment and will be continuing my Saltwater fishing both in the meantime and in between any Carp sessions that I manage to do.

On another note:

As part of my tackle business I have introduced a small range of low cost Terminal tackle bits for Carp fishing, all of which I use myself and have done for some time and have been very successful whilst using it. The range includes Semi translucent rig bits such as Tube, Lead Clips, Beads etc. I am a huge fan of this type of end tackle as I believe it is much harder for the Carp to detect it and it blends in far better with most lake bottoms than some of the solid coloured stuff on the market The range is based on over 30 years of Carp fishing experience.  Along with this I am stocking the superb new VMC range of Carp hooks. Again I have extensively trialled this range and I am of the opinion they are amongst the best hooks I have ever used. If you are interested please visit the Ebay shop and have a look at the range, if you make a purchase and aren't happy for any reason I will give you your money back, no questions asked!
 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/saltwaterandpredatorflies/Carp-fishing/_i.html?_storecat=11809259015

Until next time tight lines and Thanks for reading!

Back home and rig testing

After the serious stuff at the Match lake it was time to return to our little fun water this weekend. The high winds we have been experiencing with Hurricane Ophelia and storm Brian had coloured the water slightly due to the undertow created by the prevailing wind and the long narrow shape of the lake, thus stirring up the clay sediment on the bottom.
I opted to try out a rig modification I have come up with for the Match lake, and though these fish are very far from clued up when it comes to rigs It would still give me an indication as to whether the rig is working as I intend it too.
After a long slow day with little buzzer activity I finally had a take on one of the rods. I had placed this rod away from the usual areas we have been catching from in an attempt to see if I could tempt one of the better fish in the lake. After a short fight a glance in the net confirmed I had managed to score one of the slightly better residents possibly proving my theory right as to the kind of areas they preferred to feed. My test rig also seemed to be working as I intended and therefore will be being used on our next trip to the Match lake later this week. All being well if I can find some feeding fish it will be put to the true test.
The fish itself was slightly pale in colour as expected due to the lack of water clarity, but a pretty specimen nonetheless and heavily scaled on both sides.

 The next few days will be spent preparing to do battle with those famous old wily Yateley Carp! Lets hope they are in a feeding mood and that my modified rig proves difficult for them to deal with!

Yateley Match Lake

Our Autumn adventures proper began last Thursday as we packed the car and headed off to the Ferry. Our destination being the famous Yateley Match Lake. I like many thousands of other Carp anglers have wanted to fish the Yateley lakes for as long as I can remember. I have never been a crowd follower and never will be, but there is no denying the heritage that these lakes represent in English Carp fishing history.

The lakes these days are not the same as they were back in the early days, most of the original stock for which these lakes are well known have long since gone, but they still hold some superb looking specimens from subsequent stockings and in the case of the Match lake a mere handful of original fish survive to this day. The selling off of these lakes by the previous owners CEMEX saw the lakes on the East of the complex bought up by Farnham Angling society, an open to all fishing club with a large membership and some very nice existing waters in their portfolio. This means of course that the lakes do get busy at times and the fish are under an enormous amount of pressure all year round. If you are lucky enough to be able to drop on the fish, with the right approach, there are some incredible rewards to be had.

Travelling long distances to fish for wary Carp has never bothered me, no chance of pre baiting and it takes much longer to get to know a lake and it's residents habits, but if you have a bait in the water, as far as I'm concerned you have as much chance as the next fellow. Observation on arrival is key of course and we, my Son and best friend and myself walked the Match lake and adjacent Copse and Nursery lakes looking for clues as to where we might find success. None of us expected to catch on our first session at a strange water of course and this proved to be the case, but during the next few days we learnt an awful lot which will stand us in very good favour for subsequent visits, and of course we shall continue to learn more on each try.

The Match lake is roughly 13 to 14 acres and for much of the year solid with various types of weed. A large proportion of this seems to be a cotton candy type silk weed that reaches from the bottom almost to the surface, only small areas being clearer or supporting a more normal type of hornwort or Canadian pond weed. The silk weed is nigh on impossible to fish or present a bait in and then the chances of actually landing a fish buried in this mess is probably extremely slim. The areas with hornwort also seem to be the more popular swims, as it can be raked out a lot easier than silk weed and there are clearer patches amongst it if you search hard enough. I would imagine that once the first frosts set in, ( if we get any! ) the weed might abate a bit. This is what we are banking on for the next few months anyway as it should make presenting a bait a bit easier even if the Carp feed less as the temperature drops!

Our observations on this visit led us to believe the majority of the fish were favouring the areas of silk weed, no doubt they can move through it fine and will have created underwater corridors for themselves to navigate around it, they certainly showed more regularly in amongst it than anywhere else on the lake.

Eventually after a couple of hours walking and very tired legs we all decided on out individual plots. No social session this one as we all chose very different areas to fish, so it was communication by text for the most part, sharing our findings and observations in these areas.

For my part I chose the furthest point from the car park, a small bay in the far corner which despite still containing some weed seemed to offer a fishable and bait presentable area. I won't give a blow by blow account of my findings but I did find some obvious areas that fish had clearly visited and presented two baits on those spots.
We'd been told by other anglers that it was a night water, but as always your own findings are the best guide before taking notice of what others say. My own experience on this trip would suggest this may indeed be the case as all buzzer activity was between set times in the hours of darkness. Indeed for the three nights we were there I received activity on the two baited spots on every night and only at night, the daytimes being seemingly devoid of activity or fish in the bay. Further more I am certain my baits were picked up and ejected on all three nights with the fish ' getting away with it'. the positions of the bobbins and line angles confirming this in my mind after each subsequent bleep or series of bleeps on the alarms. clearly these fish are extremely cute when it comes to dealing with anglers rigs. This is something I have taken a great deal of interest in over the last few years, rather than dismissing each bit of buzzer activity as simply liners or small fish attacking the baits. I believe on many waters we are constantly being picked up and our rigs being ejected by fish without even knowing it. This has made me pay particular attention to certain aspects of rig mechanics, constantly making adjustments until they stared to convert more of these pick ups into fish. It seems likely that despite using my normal rigs that I supremely confident in, these fish have diminished that confidence and it's back to the drawing board! I am actually not convinced the rigs themselves are at fault, more what happens after the fish has pricked itself and the headshake that causes the hook to be flung from their mouths. Heavier leads and taking the leads out of the equation as soon as possible after the rig is picked up are things that I shall be looking at for the next trip. Pick ups from these fish will be hard won and I can tell you it was very frustrating knowing I was indeed getting those pick ups but not converting them into fish on the bank!

Hopefully there will be more to report on the Match lake and Yateley in the coming weeks and months.

Autumn approaches

Part of being an angler is being more in tune with the changing seasons than most non anglers. If you are out on the bank regularly you will notice the more subtle nuances as the seasons ebb from one to another. In many ways I find this slows down the transition and allows me time to enjoy it more. It allows me to appreciate the natural beauty of things more readily and feel I am a part of it all.
We've now rolled over into October and where I live so far south we are probably a couple of weeks or more behind most of the rest of the country, but the leaves are beginning to fall nonetheless and carpet the ground in places. The daylight hours are shortening and the temperatures are beginning to show signs of waning. Bankside vegetation is coming to it's end for the year and wild flowers are going to seed. The aquatic life is at it's peak and the Carp are making the most of the abundant natural larder, building up their fat reserves for the coming winter.

Pretty soon this will all come to an end as the water temperature drops, the fish will form small shoals and settle into their winter patterns. This means more predictable feeding times and hopefully being able to pin them down in their favourite areas. If you hadn't guessed I prefer autumn and winter fishing over spring and summer. I guess you could say it suits my strengths as an angler, less bait, more precise location and tactics, a more delicate approach all round, and of course a quieter time on the banks.

This weekend produced a couple more fish for me from our current venue. The corking looking fish below and another smaller double.

Still having fun at this lake but yet to encounter any of the bigger fish, hopefully this will change as the temperatures fall and the smaller fish slow down while the need to carry on feeding drives one or two of the larger one's into our nets.
I think there will be one more session here and then we shall be heading off the following weekend for a long stay on a very special and famous water on the mainland. Whether any of the prestigious residents will be kind enough to drop their guard for us remains to be seen but as long as we have a bait in the water we have as much chance as anyone else! I am really looking forward to this one and all being well subsequent trips here over the next few months, it's somewhere I have always had a hankering to fish and I decided a while ago it was time to do something about it. In the meantime thanks for reading and keep catching!

Chris

Dads and Lads

So this weekend I decided to have two days fishing at the little local water, hoping to fill my boots so to speak! The best laid plans of mice and men however....

I started off well on the Saturday with a low double coming quickly to the bank not too long after casting out. I rubbed my hands together thinking, yes I'm in for a decent day!
It soon became apparent that this was not going to be as easy as I had anticipated, as for the next two hours or so I sat twiddling my thumbs. A south easterly breeze had sprung up whilst I was sat there twiddling and so I decided to keep an eye on the windward end of the lake, and after a while as I suspected, fish began to roll and show at that end of the lake. A quick move saw me positioning baits to showing fish and I swiftly connected with another low double. Once again I anticipated putting a few more fish on the bank. Despite continued rolling and showing the fish had other ideas! I really do think these fish are super spooky, and once you have caught one of them they go on red alert! It's bizarre because as I said in the previous entry about this lake they really haven't seen any kind of pressure and are present in fair numbers.
Anyway despite my trying very hard for the rest of the day no more fish found their way into my net.

I returned the next day to try again with my Son in tow this time. I chose to fish the first swim I had started in the previous day, even though the wind was still pushing up to the far end where they had been rolling. Son chose to fish the south east corner on the back of the wind. Once again I sat there twiddling my thumbs wondering what on earth I could be doing wrong! In the meantime Son had managed to extract his first fish from the lake having blanked on two previous attempts, to say he was pleased was an understatement!

The hours passed and still no fish for me, so I opted for a rig change on one of the rods with a shorter more supple rig and smaller hook and bait as it seemed to me they may be taking advantage of a glut of natural food in the lake and only seeking out smaller items of food. Son had banked his second fish, a lovely mid double common and was using 12mm boilies whereas I was sticking with my standard 15/12mm snowman setup.

The change of rig and bait and a change of spot eventually paid off for me and a scraper double made off with the 12mm single hookbait. I definitely feel that these fish are more oriented towards small food items as most of their diet is natural food with only a small amount of supplementary food from the owner in the form of small pellets.

We finished the day with Son banking his third and final fish, yet another small double. I guess you could say he showed the old man how to do it on this occasion!

I do feel that we should be getting bigger hits from the residents of this lake, the obvious answer being to pre bait several times a week, however I am reluctant to do this as I really like this little lake and don't want to burn out on it too quickly which is what tends to happen when I maximise on an opportunity. I know that sounds a bit weird but with only so many local waters to go at I still want to keep a little something back. We will be facing a huge challenge soon enough with our Autumn and winter target water but it isn't one we'll be able to fish as often as we'd like due to the travelling involved and the cost of said travelling.
In between trips will be spent at this little local water through the winter so I want to leave something to keep me going back. Hopefully one of the elusive larger residents will grace one of our nets on a fresh winters day!

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Stress reliever

Life has been very stressful lately on a personal level and I have really been looking forward to getting out on the bank at the weekends. My fishing buddy and I have recently found a lovely little water where we live that is relatively unfished. The stock is nothing fantastic and is fairly high with lots of doubles and a handful, ( we think ) of low Twenties.

Nothing too serious then because the aim is simply to have fun and test our rigs and baits in preparation for a 'proper' challenge in a few weeks.
For now though this water suits my needs, it has beautiful views with open fields all around and a dramatic hillside backdrop in the distance that you can watch any developing weather fronts roll over the top of and cascade into the valley below. On our first session we were actually caught out by the effect that these 'downs' as they're known,  have on the prevailing weather and we were caught in a torrential downpour with high winds and thunder and lightening crashing all around us for about 45 minutes while we both sheltered under a 50 inch brolly! It certainly adds to the flavour of the place...

The fishing you might think would be fairly easy as the water supposedly has an estimated 150 'ish fish in only a couple of acres and they don't seem to be fished for on a regular basis. However they do seem to present a challenge because they certainly aren't as forthcoming as you might imagine. So far we have applied little in the way of prebait, and to be honest I rarely bother with such extravagances these days, preferring a one to one approach on the day. The only concession to this is throwing in the remainder of the bait we have taken for the session which on a once a week basis makes little difference.

So far our efforts have yielded 13 takes over two sessions with 9 fish landed, there is a barbless hook rule on this water which we have put the 4 losses down to as the fish all came adrift during the fight which is a typical symptom of the skidding and eventual hook pull that barbless hooks lead to. The majority of the fish have been in the 10-13lb bracket with three of them reaching around 15lb. All good fun and still providing a small amount of satisfaction. We will continue to fish this little water for the next few weeks before we move on to the 'Big challenge' over the autumn and winter!

Check out the weather front in the background! ( above )

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

Yateley Pads Lake

It's a very long time since I was last here, two years to be exact, so where have I been ?
Well, I've had a lot going on both in my fishing life and my personal life that have been a massive distraction. I'm not going to bore you with the details but I will just say it's nice to be back !

So straight up to date with some recent events.
Earlier this year a friend suggested a trip to the famous and historic Yateley Pads lake, to which I jumped at the chance. The lake is now under new ownership since being sold off by the previous owners and is run under an exclusive booking system which means a group of anglers or any individual can hire the lake exclusively to themselves. Of course this exclusivity comes at a price but divided by a group of anglers, in our case there were four of us, the cost becomes relatively inexpensive given the guaranteed privacy and freedom of choice of swims, not something that is a feature on many of the more well known day ticket waters up and down the country!

Our session was timed for the end of October and was to be 48 hers in length. Now, the Pads lake is a very shallow lake with an average depth of just 3.5-4ft. we knew that timing would be crucial being such a shallow lake and any severe drop in temperatures at this time of the year could shut the lake down. Conversely should the weather continue mild then we could quite possibly fill our collective boots.

Unfortunately about ten days before we were due to go a cold front settled over the country with brisk north easterly winds which made the temperatures plummet. Far from ideal and my heart sank at the prospect that the fish may not be in a feeding mood by the time we got there.

The day of our trip came and thought the four of us were excited, the mood was down beat as we knew in our hearts that it was probably going to be a tough session even though temperatures had risen ever so slightly in the last couple of days, but the Carp would still be acclimatising to the change.
On arrival at the lake we surveyed the scene, being our first time at the water we took a good walk round to soak in the atmosphere and try to familiarise ourselves with our new surroundings.
The previous party of anglers was still on the lake when we arrived, so we took the opportunity to engage with them and glean as much information about their session as we could in order to assess the situation regarding our own tactics.
They had been on for a week long session and between four of them they had managed six fish and lost three, so nine takes in all between them. Not too bad you might think, however it became evident that some of them if not all had applied a fair amount of bait towards the end of their session. Not a clever thing to do and far from ideal for us. Given this information It was decided that minimal bait application and fishing for one fish at a time was the best way forward for us and we collectively agreed on this tactic.
First job though was to draw for swims, an amusing and interesting exercise but everyone seemed happy enough, there is plenty of room for four anglers with something like fourteen swims to pick from though many cover similar areas of water being as the lake is only around 3.5 acres in size.
Once we were happy with our swim choices it was time to ascertain the nature of the lake bed in front of us and find spots on which to present our baits. Being a shallow gravel pit the lake is quite weedy in nature and though treatment is applied regularly in the form of a dye, a lot of the weed still remains. My own swim known as weedy corner was indeed just that, a weedy corner, however this is where the fish would want to be in my estimation given the falling temperatures and the availability of remaining natural food larders at this time of year, and so it proved to be. I found enough low lying weed and clearer spots for me to present my baits on, both in pva bag form and single chods, and even found a gravelly spot under some marginal snag bushes which I presented my normal boilie rig on and provided me with my only take of the session.
Despite plenty of evidence of fish activity with rolling, jumping and fizzing all over my end of the lake the fishing was hard going. Whether they were taking advantage of the remaining natural food or clearing up the previous party's bait I'm not sure but no matter what I tried I could just not get them to pick up a bait presented in the weed. The second day did provide me with a take as I mentioned off the snag bush but sadly it wasn't to be as the fish came adrift after a few minutes of playing it after having got a reasonable look at it too. I'm not normally phased by losing fish, and it's not something that happens to me very often, but I must admit that one did hurt a bit given the apparent difficulty of our session.
Worse still was the North easterly breeze that kept threatening to spring up over the course of the 48 hrs that we were there and several times it began to gain momentum but petered out again.
The lost fish proved to be my only chance and it looked very much like the whole party were on for a total blank but on the last morning with only a few hours to go a shout went up from my Son Liam signalling that he had made contact with a fish in the point swim. By the time I got to his swim to assist he had already managed to land it and nestling in the bottom of his net was a pristine common Carp which we weighed at 18lb 10oz. Not a big fish but definitely a worthy prize given the circumstances we had been faced with. There was no joy for my other two friends and though three of us blanked at least the young superstar of the group had managed to save some dignity for us.
The Pads lake is a nice little lake with a great stock of fish and we shall definitely return for another try, and hopefully we will find favour with the weather wizards next time!

Well what a dire Christmas break we're having weather wise ! Things started off looking good at the start of the holidays and I had planned a specimen Roach campaign over the festive period, but it's all gone a bit wrong !
The lake I was going to target has suffered badly from flooding, and whilst the water level itself isn't so much of a problem, it's the colour of the water that is. The lake has turned a very muddy brown compared to it's usual clarity at this time of year and realistically this will ruin the Roach fishing. So I have been scratching around a bit trying to find something to do and have ended up reverting back to a bit of Carp fishing on a more heavily stocked 'hungry' club water on which I had a very good session using a new method to me, zig fishing. I had always planned on getting to grips with this method of fishing with this time of year in mind as the Carp can usually be sat off the bottom for long periods of time in the slightly relatively warmer layers of water that can form, known as thermoclines. Being a reasonably deep and featureless water that I was fishing I decided to give it a go. The day was bright, and a rare break in the stormy weather of late. I had to search around a bit in order to locate some fish but once I got the first bite, sport was quite hectic, especially for the time of year. I fished two different colours of foam on the hook and though I did catch on both colours, one stood out head and shoulders above the other. The baits were fished at about half depth and within the same area as each other so the comparison was quite a fair one. Though the fish in this lake would be classed as 'hungry' they are no push over and the zigs certainly caught them off guard, and interestingly to prove this a fair proportion of the fish were in double figures which is not something that happens when bottom fishing here. Usually in a multiple catch you may get an odd better fish, but normally the only other way to get through to them is with pre baiting. Zigs are certainly something I will be playing around with on other waters in the future, especially when the bottom bait fishing is slow.

I started off well with a number of Roach of this stamp during my first couple of sessions, then the lake flooded !

 

 



Zig caught 16lb'er part of a catch of a dozen fish on the method, not too shabby for 29th December !

 

 



To conclude this entry, This morning I decided to try another club water that may hold some better Roach, in an effort to continue my campaign for the species, but unusually for me I packed up after only a couple of hours having not had a single bite...the water is shallow and a lot of cold water has gone in lately and this can be the only reason why the fish were showing no interest whatsoever. Again this is what you would class as a 'hungry water' and does have a large head of silver fish, so to not even get a liner within a couple of hours is quite staggering...
Hopefully the Roach fishing will pick up again if this foul weather ever abates, and I will be able to get back to chasing specimens of these lovely silver fish, until then I guess I will be scratching around doing whatever suits the conditions. Hope to report back soon !

I think we can safely say that winter has now arrived. The summer bird species like Swallows and Swifts have migrated to the warmer climes of north Africa, and have been replaced by their more recognisable winter counterparts such as Pied Wagtails and the ubiquitous Robins that sit on your rods cheekily begging for boilie crumbs or maggots.  

Fishing wise we can now expect things to slow up somewhat, and indeed this had been the case for me recently on the water I was fishing throughout the summer and autumn. Being a shallow water with an average depth of no more than 4 feet or so it responds very quickly in changes to the temperature, and so with the sliding mercury things have been very different to what they were a few weeks ago and I have experienced several blanks at this particular water. In contrast I have dabbled on another water that is much deeper and so is less directly affected by changes in temperature. With an average depth here of 10 or 12 feet it has taken longer for any changes to take effect, and thus I have had some recent success at this water. Fishing my usual short day sessions I have managed to land 5 fish, three of which have broken the twenty pound barrier and two of which are the largest known fish in the lake. I'll let the pictures do the talking and the weights are listed underneath each one. A simple and actually a bit of an old school fruit seed mix boilie was the successful bait, fished on a straight forward bolt rig set up, consisting of an eight inch hooklink, a two ounce custom made lead and around four feet of leadcore.

21lb 12oz Mirror

 

 

This beast weighed in at 32lb 3oz and is the largest fish in the lake

 

 

At 27lb 2oz I was over the moon with this stunning creature !

 

 

So as you can see, a bit of a result, the two biggest fish came during the same day session and is my biggest ever brace of Carp.

Although I may have caught the lakes two largest 'known' residents, they are not really my target for the water. These fish are all Mirrors and there are a few other nice Mirrors that I would like to see in the bottom of my net in the next few months, however there are also some very nice Commons which are my main target and these tend to be much more elusive than the Mirrors. One particular Common I have seen on occasion has caught my imagination, and whilst I think I may have a rough idea of what size it could be I can only confirm this by putting it on the bank....
Both the waters that I am dividing my time between hold some good looking, twenty pound plus Commons, so I will alternate between the two depending on weather conditions in the hope of achieving my goal.

I also have another water in the pipeline that I shall be dallying with from time to time, it's a water in it's infancy as it is a brand new syndicate, but it does contain some original fish that run to over twenty pounds as well a some stock fish that have been in there for about a year and were stocked at doubles, so it will be interesting to see how they have done. All in all I have plenty to do to keep me busy over the winter period and it should also take me through into the spring of next year. Each water has it's own little challenges and targets for me to go at and hopefully I will enjoy my time at each one even if I don't manage to achieve all my goals.

Tester session

I had a short tester session at a water that I have not fished for a while the other evening. It's a venue that I am saving until it gets a bit cooler and is less busy. The lake and its occupants is one that I am very familiar with and in recent times has received a fair bit of attention from Carp anglers. The upshot of this is that due to the increase in the amount of bait going into the lake, the fish are putting on decent weight gains and the water looks set to produce some good fish. My short tester session was with my eldest son and we fished for a few hours in the evening. Shortly before dusk I had a pick up from a Carp and after a fairly protracted and tense fight I scooped up this stunning fully scaled mirror weighing 24lb 2oz.

 

 

 

 

This is a very good weight for this fish, especially at this time of year and she looks set to become a very big fish in the future. 

Korda Stow bobbins

One piece of equipment that I must review are Korda Stows, I purchased a set of these last year after seeing them on one of the Korda dvd's and thought they would fit in perfectly with the way I like to fish. One thing that made them stand out is the versatility of their design as they can be fished as conventional bobbins and hung on the line or they can be fished in such a way as to be able to relax the line between the rod tip and terminal tackle allowing it to settle on the bottom properly with less chance of the carp detecting it and spooking.
They are quite an expensive Item in my view compared to some other indicator systems but I believe they are well worth the extra cost due to the advantage they provide in helping catch more Carp. They are designed to work with most bite alarms, however I use ATT's and the Stows need modifying to work with the ATT alarms as they are so small. Basically all I had to do was buy some buzz bar extensions such as the ones designed to give access to the switch on certain Delkim alarms or the quick change adaptor type of extension, and I  had to remove a couple of links in the Stow chains to fine tune them to fall off on the take as they are designed to do with other alarms. Not a difficult task and one that affects the performance of the Stow's in no detrimental way. You can see the extensions in the pictures below.

Extensions are needed with ATT's alarms

 

 

 

Detail of the unique line clip that allows you to remove tension from the mainline.

 

 

 

 

I genuinely believe that the Korda Stow indicators have given me an advantage and helped me to put more Carp on the bank recently due to the unique way they work in promoting a much more subtle end tackle presentation. Though the line between the rod tip and terminal tackle can be relaxed this does not interfere or delay bite indication because of the effects of water pressure on the line creating 'drag' or resistance on the line when a Carp picks up the bait and moves off. Obviously how much you can relax the line depends on the angling situation and factors such as the distance you are fishing at or whether you have snags or weed or bars to take into consideration when deciding how best to use these indicators, but used sensibly I'm not sure they could be improved on in offering the best in bite indication and end tackle presentation. 

 

 

 

Stinking hot July Carping !

July, and it's stinking hot. Not my favourite time of year and not a great time to re immerse myself into Carp fishing ! However I have been doing a bit on a local water and with some immediate success. I've been fishing just mornings for a few hours while it's still relatively cool and the sun isn't too high. Once it is too high of course the Carp just bob up to the surface like corks and have no interest in feeding, then it's time for me to leave. One of my short sessions yesterday was quite busy and I landed four Carp all in double figures in a short space of time. Three of the fish were commons to around eighteen pounds and I also had this nice looking Mirror of just over Eighteen pounds as well.

 

 

 

 

Tactics for this lake are very standard fair I'm afraid due to the large number of silverfish present, 18mm Boilies fished over a scattering of the same keeps the Carp coming and the silvers at bay most of the time ! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming home

Well, here I am again back on the Coarse fishing.....
To tell the truth I'm not that surprised really, I've been struggling with my physical ailments for quite some time now and having attempted some saltwater fishing this year I'm afraid it has only served to aggravate my condition. So that's it I think, no more saltwater fishing for me, certainly not any adventurous trips anyway such as climbing up and down cliffs or long hikes along shingle beaches ! I had no real ambitions with the saltwater fishing apart from to catch fish. You have to take what you can get with saltwater fishing unless you can really put the time and effort in and there is so much against you all the time, not withstanding health problems on top!
I still have a lot of ambitions to achieve in coarse fishing however, so having turned 44 years old yesterday I have decided it's time to fulfil those dreams !

I left off the last blog entry here talking about a special little local water with a very nice stock of desirable residents in the form of Carp, I did pretty well there last year for the short time I was on the water and to tell the truth though I caught some nice fish, I didn't catch any of the fish I really wanted to catch apart from maybe the first one, the fully scaled. I had fish to 34lb and whilst that may be a nice fish weight wise, it isn't always about weight, though it's a nice bonus if you catch a good looker at a good weight !
So I'm toying with the idea of having another go to try and finish what I started, and depending on what sort of deal I can work out with the owner on the price of a ticket I may well begin a campaign on the water in a few weeks time.
In the meantime however I will just be fishing the local club waters to get back into the swing of things, much as I did last year, it's important for me to gain my confidence in my methods again and hone my skills before moving onto anything 'serious' !

I'll try and keep the reports coming and busy the blog up a bit with what I'm doing and how I'm doing it as I go along, in the meantime here are a few pictures of some of the fish I had last year at the special water.